Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-04-30
THE LANCASTER DAILY SATURDAY,

areshe penalty r. severe. Sometimes one
II these mothers reyents and seeks her babe.
IL II is not dead II r. returned 10 her. II IL
lives three years II u sent 10 one OF two insti-
tutions 10 De adopted by some one who sp-
plies for . boy or girl and gives gopi refer
Home for the Frendless and the Roman
Catholic Institution Of Mercy.
The New York Founding Asylum Is
world famous as the happicst and most nd.
nirablc haven that ever q homeless baby
found its way tO. II IL so famous that babies
have been brought 10 Il from every State In
the Union, and even from Europe. People
believe that once q baby is taken In there
II will be rearel with care almost approach.
ing that of n mother In command u limit
less means, experience and love. How true
that is, don't know, but ] certainly never
,aw happier, healthier cleaner or brighter
little ones In my life than ] found there
when ] called unheralded and was shown
through the hinge and beautiful building.
Between the inner and the outer front
door of this place Of charity is an ordinary
wicker basket or crib, swinging between two
uprights and c,irtained with pink and white
muslin. Ordinary IL is, but only in appear.
ancc, for 10 Is hardly q question whether any
other receptacle ever held So many examples
of microscopic humanity as this. The babies
that have been left In It by desperate mothers
would populate what would be called acity
IN the far West. There must have been
I2,HO 10 l5,GD foundlings in that crib by
this time. Two or three times a night the
door-bel rings, one Of the two dozen sisters
slips down and a mother is allowed to enter
the vestibule. Often not u word is spoken.
The sister looks on while the mother
puts her little one IN the basket. II
The mother seems decent girl or cries bit
'crly at parting with her care the sister some
times urges her 20 try once again to care for
il herself When the asylum was first
"pened young woman, who was wild with
grivf, told II sister that she could not go
nome; even without the proof Of her shame
Ecr parents had cast her of. The sister
inN tied her TO STAY and care for her own
child. That precedent has often been fol-
lowed since, and now there are always many
mothers learning laundry work, learning
.ewing, cooking and whatever there is to do.
Of course they are often women who have
discarded virtue, and it has been found that
the sisters can reclaim a great many. send
ing them out 10 earn their living, proud Of
the work they have been taught Ia perform.
The sisters say that 1t is surprising how
many Of these immoSal women have never
leirned anything useful when taught how
r. work they often take to IL eagerly.
The good mother superior at Mount st.
' ncent founded this asylum In 1853, in a
Ii tie dwelling. in the month of October. In
pne month thirteen babes were left at the
door, and by Christmas the number had in
creased TO 14. Now there are always
about 300 on the lists of the asylum, so in
it and the rest kept out to nurse among
workingwomen at tlO month. At first it
seems like helping crime to keep q basket
like this one at the asylum always ready for
mothers 10 go 10 when they wish to abandon
their offspring. But q moments reflection
shows you that this Is not SO; that If a
mother Is 40 constituted or so situated that
she can or must part with her baby, it is best
hat the means be provided for her. There
are women whom nothing can force to this
Tread alternative. They may be Obliged I"
have their little ones cared for in the day
time at one of the many ''day-board-for
babies" establishments in the city but when
work Is done and home is to be sought the
loyal matron always takes her darling TO her
breast. JULIAN RALPH.